I’m going to try to keep it short and simple this time: “HAPPY FIRE ROOSTER CHINESE NEW YEAR” ! . . .  and yes, I’m amazed to know that.

It’s interesting how CHINA and the CHINESE CULTURE play such important roles in our lives or at least that we’re so aware of when the Chinese New Year is (because the date changes every year) and where the parades will be taking place (you don’t need to be Chinese to love that).

In my particular case, I grew up in Canada with a lot of Chinese-origin friends or friends that married Chinese-origin folks and had kids (you can read more about this in last year’s Chinese peanut cookies post, to see it just click here).

I also had an ‘almost-uncle’ who was a historian in a Canadian university (this, my friends, for us Greeks, means your friends’ fathers or uncles who automatically become your uncles too) who said to me one day, when having dinner together in Paris : “Georgie, always remember that the Chinese are the only true brothers of the Greeks” … this was a reference to our ancient histories and ancient cultures but I’m sure that if we delve further into that direction, other cultures, whether European, African, Middle-Eastern or Asian also fall into that category.

Anyways, this very surprisingly cold winter in Paris has pushed me to purchase and consume unexpectedly large amounts of hot peppers, ginger and garlic and this has become the underlying theme of these green-tinged spicy kind-of-asian sausages that I made last week (and I froze the extras).

Let’s be honest, most people will not grind their own meat at home, and definitely not stuff their own sausages but this mixture is also wonderful as spicy hamburger or beef patties so give it a try with a smaller quantity (at least) !

Trust me, they’re really good and juicy and spicy.

MOOOO & OINK-OINK & COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOO … :)

p.s.: I wish I knew how to write up a fish-sound-onomatopoeia too because Angel is frying up some battered fresh cod right at this instant as I’m typing this up and that lovely aroma is driving me bananas and I don’t even care if the apartment smells fishy !